McConnell asks FBI to investigate secret recording about Judd

Ashley Judd, who was considering a run against Mitch McConnell for the Kentucky senate seat he’s held for a generation, became the subject of a meeting between McConnell and his political inner circle. NBC’s Chuck Todd reports.

Capitol Hill

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>>>now to some secret recordings which are public that are receiving some wide circulation. we're about to get a glimpse of something called
opposition research
. the kind of stuff you have to do in politics in order to get to know your opponent and figure out how to campaign against them. these recordings happened to involve the
senate republican leader
discussing a famous potential opponent who happens to be the actress
ashley judd
. he says he was bugged. the fbi is now involved. our political director
chuck todd
has our report tonight.

>> reporter: ashley judd
toyed with challenging
mitch mcconnell
for the
kentucky senate
seat he has held for a generation.

>>as long as the republicans keep doing really dumb things about women's
reproductive health
that should help energize girls and women in this country.

>> reporter: it was a challenge
mcconnell
and his campaign team took very seriously. after opening his campaign headquarters in louisville in februa februa february,
mcconnell
and his
inner circle
privately discussed their research on how to attack judd using the kind of blunt language political operatives use all the time but rarely in public.

>>the first person we'll focus on is
ashley judd
.

>> reporter: what they didn't know is it all would be caught on tape.

>>basically i refer to her as some of the opo research.

>> reporter: they screened this tv clip of her from the
2012democratic convention
.

>> reporter: that's tennessee not kentucky. the core of what could be a ready-made tv
attack ad
questioning judd's loyalty to the
blue grass
state. they showed a potential willingness to get personal and nasty.

>>she's, clearly, this sounds extreme, but she is emotionally unbalanced. i mean it's been documented. jesse can go in and chapter and verse in an autobiography.

>> reporter: mcconnell
believes he was the victim of a bugging operation masterminded by political opponents.

>>also unknown to us at the time were bugging our headquarters, quite a nixonian move. this is what you get from the
political left
in america these days.

>> reporter: late yesterday the
mcconnell
campaign hired a security firm to sweep the louisville campaign office for recording devices and guess what? found nothing. today the
mcconnell
campaign did ask the fbi to investigate and the bureau, brian, is looking into it.